Crowdsourcing Solves Mystery About Nazi Photographer

It took less than day, according to The New York Times' Lens blog, for readers to help identify the Nazi photographer who took 214 pictures in a recently discovered album that includes never-before-seen images of Adolf Hitler.

After a call for help Tuesday from Lens and the German website EinesTages, it's been determined that it was Franz Krieger (1914-1993) of Salzburg, Austria.

The Times says it identified Krieger after getting important crowdsourcing contributions from Harriet Scharnberg, who is studying German propaganda photographs, and Peter Kramml, who, it turns out, has published a book about Krieger's work a Nazi photographer.

Lens writes that according to Kramml, in 1941 Krieger joined Propagandakompanie, a propaganda unit of the Wehrmacht. He took photos on the Eastern Front and of a meeting between Hitler and the regent of Hungary.

The mystery photos were loaned to the Times by "a 72-year-old executive in the fashion industry who lives in New Jersey and works in the garment district of Manhattan." He's hoping to sell the photos "to pay medical bills and get out of debt," Lens says, and has requested anonymity.